Israeli ministers denounce ICJ order to halt Rafah offensive

JERUSALEM

Israeli ministers slammed on Friday the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) ruling demanding Tel Aviv to halt its military operations in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in a statement described the provisional order in the ongoing genocide case against Israel as “antisemitic.”

He asserted that the response to the ruling “should be a single answer: the occupation of Rafah, increased military pressure, and the complete defeat of Hamas until full victory is achieved.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the government “will not agree on” the ruling of the court, adding that Israel is “at war for its existence,” and “those who demand that it should stop the war, demand that it decrees itself to cease to exist.”

Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, for his part, said “the Israeli government's decision to appear before the court was a serious mistake.”

“The court's decision from today proves that various UN institutions and also the criminal court in The Hague have become aides to terrorists all over the world and their entire role is to deter democratic countries,” he wrote on X.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid also slammed the ICJ order. “The fact that the court did not make a connection in its ruling between the cessation of fighting in Rafah and the return of the abductees and Israel's right to defend itself against terrorism is a moral collapse,” he said on X.

Israel has so far killed more than 35,800 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after a cross-border attack by Hamas that claimed 1,200 lives last October.

The operation has leveled most of the territory and created a humanitarian crisis. Despite concerns over the safety of civilians, Israeli forces invaded on May 6 Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had taken refuge. Since the assault, at least 800,000 people have fled the city.

In late 2023 South Africa filed a case at the ICJ, accusing Israel of failing to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The UN court on Jan. 26 ruled that South Africa’s claims are plausible and ordered provisional measures for Israel’s government to desist from genocidal acts, and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

On March 28, it ordered additional measures, calling on Israel to ensure "unhindered provision" of urgent aid to Gaza as "famine is setting in."

The ICJ on Friday reaffirmed its previous orders, and indicated further measures including an end to military operations in the southern city, maintaining the Rafah border crossing open and allowing access for investigators to the blockaded enclave.

ICJ President Nawaf Salam said the situation in Gaza had deteriorated since the court last ordered Israel to take steps to improve it.